Page 85 of Diluted Truths

“There was already so much going on, and the nightmares were just getting worse and I was so tired. Fai was so mad at me. Then Kai got hurt and my parents were horrible.” I could feel myself starting to hyperventilate. “It’s all just too much and I am so sorry and so tired.”

I was panicking.

It was all too much. I felt like my world was crumbling. My parents hated me, Fai fired me. I no longer had my work or my greatest supporter. I felt Will wrap his arms around me and try to soothe me. At least I had Will. Maybe he was mad I didn’t tell him, but he was here.

“Why fire her over the call, Faizal?” Sarah asked.

“Because I can't trust her judgment anymore. She believes stories that aren’t real,” he explained. “My journal focuses on the truth, not in this conspiracy shit you are all believing in now.”

“He threatened her, Fai,” Will stated. “He says that she will go missing next. I don’t want to believe him, Fai, and you don’t have to. But keep an open mind. She may be at risk.”

Fai paused for a moment, contemplating what Will said. “She isn’t going to up and disappear. This case you're all investigating, it’s just stories.”

“The nightmares? You’re still having them?” Sarah asked me, concern filling her gaze.

I nodded. “Every night.”

She walked over to the other side of me and hugged me as well. I was surrounded by two of the kindest, most incredible people I knew. Yet I felt so alone staring at Fai.

He looked so betrayed, so hurt.

“Who’s Kai?” he asked.

“My brother.”

His eyes grew wide in shock. “You have a brother?”

I nodded in response. “Two. Kai and Nate.”

“You have two brothers you never told me about? I thought you trusted me?” God, he sounded so hurt. I deserved his anger, his hurt.

“Nate,” I hiccuped from my sobs while trying to explain. “Nate died and it was just too hard to talk about.”

Fai rubbed his face with his hands, trying to make sense of everything. He looked at me with tears in his eyes. “I don’t even know you.”

“You do! I promise you do!” I sobbed as Will continued to hold my shaking body.

Fai shook his head as he stood. “I don’t. You lied to me, Jackie. For years, you lied. And now, it’s just one lie after another. I…I thought you trusted me.”

With that, I watched as he turned and walked out. I broke down on the couch, not understanding how I got here. He was right, I did lie to him. I lied to him over and over and over again.

God, I was so awful.

Sarah stood to talk with Will. “I’ll talk to him. He’s hurt now, but he just needs to process. It’s a lot.” She crouched in front of me so we were eye to eye. “He loves you, Ophelia. I promise, he just needs time.” She kissed my cheek and followed her husband out.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the calls,” I whispered to Will. I couldn’t lose him too.

“Shhh. It’s okay. I’m not mad,” he whispered back.

We sat there for a moment on the couch. I needed to fix this, but I wasn’t sure how.

How do you fix something you broke?

Will stood with me in his arms and walked us to his room. He laid me gently on the bed as I continued to cry. It was all just too much. He slowly stripped the clothes off my body and pulled one of his shirts over my head. I laid there as he crawled into bed and pulled me into his body.

“Go to sleep, Jackie. You need it,” he whispered in my ear as I drifted off from pure exhaustion. “I love you.”

It was in his arms that I got the greatest, most restful sleep. While I still had the nightmares, they didn’t seem nearly as bad when he was close.